I’ve been away from the computer quite a bit as we did our yearly family vacation at the Shore, brightened by the presence of my wife! (Some of you know that in addition to being a priest, she’s also an army/National Guard chaplain currently deployed with her unit; she got to come back and spend the week with us before shipping back out again…)

((Yes, the Episcopal Church does have military chaplains! No, most Episcopalians don’t seem to know this or anything about their work, but that’s a discussion for another post.))

In any case, I have been making some corrections and fixes to the current code, including a fix to a silly mistake preventing a number of saints from showing up. Thankfully, John Cassian is back today, and we get his collect which I very much like:

Holy God, whose beloved Son Jesus Christ didst bless the pure in heart: Grant that we, together with thy servant John Cassian and in union with his prayers, may ever seek the purity with which to behold thee as thou art; one God in Trinity of persons now and for ever. Amen.

It’s got a passing reference to his Conferences, but makes sense whether you’ve read those or not. It doesn’t make him some figure in the past who has one feature for us to emulate (as in the “biographical” collects), but a current companion with us on the way, and–honoring our Baptismal Ecclesiology–acknowledges that our prayers ascend together regardless of any temporal divide between us as we are bound together in the common life of Christ. What a nice little collect! I wonder who could have written it…

;-)

I’ll probably put up a page to collect and track the fixing of breviary errors, just so you know if the mistake you’ve seen is one I’m aware of or not. It’s not uncommon for me to miss mistakes that occur in the versions/selections that I don’t pray myself, so especially if you’re a Rite II type, don’t hesitate to chime in!